Undead Origins

Voadam

Legend
Dragon 427

Dragon 427
4e
Undead: In the earliest days of creation, when gods still walked the land alongside mortals and the Dawn War had just begun, Nerull—a clever and ruthless human wizard—became one of the first nonelves to learn arcane magic from Corellon. His newfound power soon drew him into the war against the primordials. After one particularly gruesome battle, Nerull looked over the fields filled with corpses and cursed at those who had allowed themselves to pass into death, avoiding the duty of preserving creation against annihilation. Retreating back to his study, he spent months brooding over issues of mortality and the threat of the elementals.
During this withdrawal, the mage first began his studies of the dead and their uses. He discovered that death need not be the end of a body’s usefulness, and magical energy could bestow a semblance of life upon a lifeless corpse. He further determined that such magic could bind the soul to service, either in a body or without one. Rooted in Nerull’s desire for the fallen to rejoin the war against the primordials, these discoveries became the foundation for the necromancy school of magic.
Bound Soul: As a soul binder, you have bound a soul to your service. The soul might be that of an enemy whose torment you wish to prolong, a loved one whose company you wish to keep, or a friend whom you’re saving from a vile afterlife.
Nerull's Shade: Only a few places in the world remain consecrated to the Reaper—ancient temples hidden in the world’s deeps, domains of dread banished from the Shadowfell, and Necromanteion in the heart of Pluton. These are the places one is most likely to encounter the wandering shade of Nerull—a vestige of his former glory seeking the death of all living things.
 
Last edited:

log in or register to remove this ad

Voadam

Legend
Dragon 428

Dragon 428
4e
Vampire: Still undead after many centuries, the one-time vampire king of Westgate Orlak found a terrible treasure beneath the city: a clone of the infamous Manshoon. He turned the clone into a vampire, but the creature turned upon him and for a time assumed his mantle as Orlak II before changing his name to Orbakh. With the aid of the Night King’s regalia (a magic cup called the Argraal, an animated dagger called the Flying Fangs, and the Maguscepter of Myntharan), Orbakh seized control of the Night Masks, allied with the Fire Knives, ensorcelled or turned many nobles into vampires, and soon dominated most of Westgate from the shadows.
The half-drow Tebryn “Shadowstalker” Dhialael was once a lowly member of the guild in the 1340s and 50s until a duel with a rival forced him to flee underground. He spent almost a decade as a slave in the drow city of Sschindylryn until he escaped and returned to his ancestral home, only to fall prey to Orbakh’s Flying Fangs. Now a vampire, Tebryn became one of Orbakh’s Night Court, where his extensive experience with the guild proved invaluable.
The nameless vampire crimelords who operate the Night Masks hide their identities behind eye masks, and their names are known to few other than their creator, Kirenkirsalai.
Some years ago, an heir of House Vhammos led a delving crew in search of access to a rival house’s vault and broke through into the forgotten House of Steel, a temple to the ravager god Garagos. The temple’s old defenses—animated swords and various undead guardians—slaughtered most of the heir’s party and left him dying. The Night King came upon him and turned him into a vampire to join the Night Masters.
Kannoth, Vampire Lord of Cendriane: ?
 
Last edited:

Voadam

Legend
Dragon 429

Dragon 429
4e
Dragon Tooth Warrior: Dragon Tooth magic item
Undead: In fantasy, undeath can afflict almost anything that once lived. Some creatures choose undeath, and others have it forced on them. Some pass into undeath very soon after dying, and others might lie in their graves for centuries before rising again. An undead creature might loathe its current form or not even recognize its own passing. Someone who died during the height of an ancient empire and lay dead through centuries of downfall and social collapse—perhaps even triggered that collapse during their lifetime—would arise into a very puzzling world.

Dragon Teeth
All dragons venerate the dragon gods, with metallic dragons usually worshiping Bahamut and chromatic dragons following Tiamat. Although these gods favor all their children, some dragons rise in the gods’ esteem and find a place more directly in their service as guardians of sites important to the god. Dragon teeth are mythic relics from a bygone age or the teeth from a dragon that protected a site sacred to a dragon god. Such teeth are highly sought for their power to create skeletal warriors. When used, the tooth sinks into the ground and six skeletal warriors spring into existence nearby.
Dragon Tooth Level 15 Rare
This blackened fang of exceptional size vibrates with power.
Consumable 1,500 gp
Utility Power ✦ Consumable (Minor Action)
Effect: Area burst 2 within 10. Six dragon tooth warriors appear in unoccupied spaces in the area. If you succeed on a DC 25 Arcana check, the dragon tooth warriors become allies to you and your allies, and you decide how they act and move on each of their turns. On a failure, the dragon tooth warriors become enemies to all creatures present in the encounter, and although each warrior is most likely to attack the creature nearest it, the DM controls the warriors.
 
Last edited:

Voadam

Legend
Dungeon 155

Dungeon 155
4e
Zombie Hulk: ?
Blazing Skeleton: ?
Undead: The Warwood’s gnarled trees, tangled thickets, and lonesomeness would cause anyone to think it haunted—even without its restless dead. Those who died in the brief conflict after Sir Malagant and the Sleeper in the Tomb of Dreams killed one another still linger in the forest. The battle after the generals’ deaths broke the compact they had made about their final battle, and the souls of those who died in those battles are cursed by the Raven Queen to remain in the Warwood forever.
Sleeper's Skeletal Warhorse: ?
Chillborn Zombie: ?
Ghoul: ?
Hanged One: Hanged ones can be created with dark rituals, but they often arise spontaneously in areas of concentrated evil when the bodies of slain innocents have been hanged or strangled.
Tortured Skeleton: ?
Beholder Zombie: The zombie beholder lacks eyes. As a reanimated former cultist of That Which Waits Beyond the Stars, all its eyes have been removed.
Lost Wraith: Any humanoid killed by a lost wraith rises as a free-willed lost wraith at the start of its creator’s next turn, appearing in the space where it died (or in the nearest unoccupied space). Raising the slain creature (using the Raise Dead ritual) does not destroy the spawned wraith.
Zombie Rotter: During the tragedy that saw Shadowfell Keep deserted, several soldiers hid the Keep’s noncombatants in a pair of rarely-used rooms. The men then walled themselves and their wards into the chambers for safety. With plenty of food, they thought themselves safe. The soldiers realized too late that they had sealed themselves into a tomb. Their disappearance was marked up to the mad paladin.
Today, the dead innocents stir. The enchantment that roused the ghoul in Encounter 17 of Shadowfell Keep also made monsters of these ancient warriors and servants.
Maw: ?
Zombie Soldier: During the tragedy that saw Shadowfell Keep deserted, several soldiers hid the Keep’s noncombatants in a pair of rarely-used rooms. The men then walled themselves and their wards into the chambers for safety. With plenty of food, they thought themselves safe. The soldiers realized too late that they had sealed themselves into a tomb. Their disappearance was marked up to the mad paladin.
Today, the dead innocents stir. The enchantment that roused the ghoul in Encounter 17 of Shadowfell Keep also made monsters of these ancient warriors and servants.
 
Last edited:

Voadam

Legend
Dungeon 156

Dungeon 156
4e
Specter: ?
Ghoul: ?
Zombie: ?
Deathlock Wight: ?
Boneshard Skeleton: ?
Decrepit Skeleton: ?
Jacobux Kincep, Ghost: In life, Jaccobux was a wizard and a professional adventurer. He developed a thirst for knowledge in his old age and became a prodigious collector of books. He read avidly right up until the moment of his death, and his deep regret that he had so many books left to read held him in the mortal world as a ghost.
Greater Ghoul: ?
Abyssal Ghoul Pack Leader: ?
Cali, Vampire Lord: ?
Vampire Spawn Bloodhunter: ?
Guardian Statue: ?
Mad Wraith: Any humanoid killed by a mad wraith rises as a free-willed mad wraith at the start of its creator’s next turn, appearing in the space where it died (or in the nearest unoccupied space). Raising the slain creature (using the Raise Dead ritual) does not destroy the spawned wraith.
Minotaur Skeleton: ?
Blazing Skeleton: ?
 
Last edited:

Voadam

Legend
Dungeon 157

Dungeon 157
4e
Gairg Slaughter Wight: Killed by the bone nagas, the three were subsequently raised as horrid undead by the necromancer Eibon.
Miner Battle Wight: Killed by the bone nagas, the three were subsequently raised as horrid undead by the necromancer Eibon.
Bone Naga Guardian: ?
Skeletal Tomb Guardian: ?
Flameskull: ?
Boneclaw Guardian: ?
 
Last edited:

Voadam

Legend
Dungeon 158

Dungeon 158
4e
Wraith: Any humanoid killed by a wraith rises as a free-willed wraith at the start of its creator’s next turn, appearing in the space where it died (or in the nearest unoccupied space). Raising the slain creature (using the Raise Dead ritual) does not destroy the spawned wraith.
Seething Wraith: Any humanoid killed by a seething wraith rises as a free-willed seething wraith at the start of its creator’s next turn, appearing in the space where it died (or in the nearest unoccupied space). Raising the slain creature (using the Raise Dead ritual) does not destroy the spawned wraith.
Mad Wraith: Any humanoid killed by a mad wraith rises as a free-willed mad wraith at the start of its creator’s next turn, appearing in the space where it died (or in the nearest unoccupied space). Raising the slain creature (using the Raise Dead ritual) does not destroy the spawned wraith.
Specter: ?
Undead: Hamona, a grim place that has already been terrorized by the Cult of Vecna. All the survivors in the village are missing their left hand and eye and are extremely distrustful of outsiders. The inhabitants of Hamona are also under a curse placed upon them by the cult in which they become undead creatures at nightfall.
Corruption Corpse: Hamona, a grim place that has already been terrorized by the Cult of Vecna. All the survivors in the village are missing their left hand and eye and are extremely distrustful of outsiders. The inhabitants of Hamona are also under a curse placed upon them by the cult in which they become undead creatures at nightfall.
Zombie Rotter: Hamona, a grim place that has already been terrorized by the Cult of Vecna. All the survivors in the village are missing their left hand and eye and are extremely distrustful of outsiders. The inhabitants of Hamona are also under a curse placed upon them by the cult in which they become undead creatures at nightfall.
Deathlock Wight: Hamona, a grim place that has already been terrorized by the Cult of Vecna. All the survivors in the village are missing their left hand and eye and are extremely distrustful of outsiders. The inhabitants of Hamona are also under a curse placed upon them by the cult in which they become undead creatures at nightfall.
 
Last edited:

Voadam

Legend
Dungeon 159

Dungeon 159
4e
Rukaleth, Blackfire Dracolich: ?
Larva Mage: ?
Holy Ziggurat Slinger: ?
Holy Ziggurat Guardian: ?
Undead Gibbering Abominations: ?
Ziggurat Ghost: ?
Ancient Ziggurat Mummy: ?
Betrayer Spirit Reaver: They’re evil guardians bound here against their will for crimes they committed in life.
Betrayer Wight: They’re evil guardians bound here against their will for crimes they committed in life.
Voidsoul Specter: They’re evil guardians bound here against their will for crimes they committed in life.
Sebacean Mutant Treant: ?
Sebacean Mutant Nightwalkers: ?
Chillborn Zombie: The chillborn zombie was once the mine-thane of Karak, killed with the rest of his people and raised to undeath by the lingering power of the elemental energy in this area.
 
Last edited:

Voadam

Legend
Dungeon 160

Dungeon 160
4e
Cyclops Rambler Zombie: The necromancer gestures at the cyclops’s corpse and says, “In the name of Orcus, return to fight again!” The corpse lurches back to its feet.
Drow Necromancer Zombify power.
Great Flameskull: ?
Darkland Voidsoul Specter: ?
Dread Wraith: Any humanoid killed by a dread wraith rises as a free-willed dread wraith at the start of its creator’s next turn, appearing in the space where it died (or in the nearest unoccupied space). Raising the slain creature (using the Raise Dead ritual) does not destroy the spawned wraith.

R Zombify (minor; at-will)
Ranged 20; target a cyclops rambler that has been reduced to 0 hit points or fewer. It becomes a cyclops rambler zombie, and is now alive with full hit points (but still prone). Roll initiative for the creature.
 
Last edited:

Voadam

Legend
Dungeon 161

Dungeon 161
4e
Rathoraiax: The animated body of Rathoraiax.
Warped Ghoul: ?
Warped Grimlock Zombie: ?
Plague-Changed Ghoul King: ?
Dark Pact Ghoul Initiate: ?
Plague Changed Ghoul Eater: ?
 
Last edited:

Remove ads

AD6_gamerati_skyscraper

Remove ads

Recent & Upcoming Releases

Top